John Steinbock, Former Pedo-Priest-Protecting Diocese of Orange Bishop and Current Fresno Bishop, Now Rotting in Hell

John Steinbock, the bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Fresno, no longer has to suffer through the hell that is cancer after passing away yesterday, but he can now look forward to an eternity of Satan for his lifetime of protecting pedophile priests. And before some apologist comments that I shouldn't judge lest I be judged, may I remind them that I never let a notorious child rapist take off to Tijuana ahead of the cops.

Sex-abuse victims remember Steinbock for protecting Father Eleuterio Ramos, the most prolific pedo-priest in Orange County history. When Ramos admitted to Steinbock--then auxiliary bishop and Bishop Michael Driscoll (now Bishop of Boise) that he molested a boy while serving at St. Anthony Claret in Anaheim, it was Steinbock who suggested Ramos get sent to "vacation immediately" instead of turning him over to the cops; Ramos would go on to minister to children in Tijuana and never served a day in jail for molesting at least 25 boys. Steinbock also knew about pedophile allegations lodged against Richard Coughlin when the Archdiocese of Boston sent him to Orange but didn't do anything about them; here, Coughlin continued his boy-buggering ways.

And it was Steinbock who led a haphazard investigation into allegations that Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown (a classmate of Steinbock's at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo) had abused a boy while in the Diocese of Fresno during the 1960s.

May the fires of Gehenna keep you warm, Johnny! And heckuva job, Brownie!

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, author of the syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!", and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He started at the paper with an angry, fake letter to the editor and went from there—only in Anacrime!